OMB chief to appeal ombudsman’s ruling

MANILA, Philippines - Optical Media Board (OMB) chair Ronnie Ricketts will appeal the Office of the Ombudsman resolution for his indictment for graft and said the six-month suspension was still not executory.

Ricketts issued a statement through his lawyer, Marian Ivy Reyes-Fajardo, who said yesterday the OMB chair was preparing his appeal to ask for the reversal of the ombudsman’s order.

The ombudsman ordered the filing of graft charges against Ricketts, executive director Cyrus Paul Valenzuela, enforcement and inspection division chief Manuel Mangubat, investigation agent Joseph Arnaldo and computer operator Glenn Perez.

The ombudsman also slapped them with a six-month suspension order for their alleged questionable acts following a raid on a private establishment in Quiapo, Manila in 2010 wherein three Chinese were arrested.

“The decision is not executory yet as the remedy of the motion for reconsideration is still available,” Reyes-Fajardo said. “He (Ricketts) still remains chairman of the OMB.”

Ombudsman probers said they found evidence to hold Ricketts and other top officials of the board administratively liable for neglect of duty in connection with the post-raid operations conducted against Sky High Marketing Corp.

OMB agents raided Sky High’s offices and seized 127 boxes and two sacks of pirated digital video discs and video compact discs and video recording equipment.

But the confiscated items brought to the OMB office in the afternoon were supposedly pulled out from the premises that night.

Records show that Ricketts allegedly instructed the pullout of the seized items, without any approved gate pass, using an Isuzu Elf truck owned by Sky High.

Investigators said the “unjustified” release of the confiscated items “compromised” the evidence for the case against the company.